Should NFL end Thursday Night Football? What the national media are saying about Seahawks’ costly win in Arizona

Originally published November 10, 2017 at 9:26 am
Updated November 10, 2017 at 11:38 am

Team doctor E. Edward Khalfayan walks off the field with Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman after he went down injured following a tackle of Cardinals wide receiver John Brown and injures his heel on the play, exiting the game afterward. (Bettina Hansen / The Seattle Times)

Here's what the national media are saying about Seattle's injuries, what NFL should do about Thursday Night Football and how the Seahawks will move on.

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Welp. Wins don’t come at a much higher cost than the Seahawks’ 22-16 victory over the Cardinals on Thursday night.

Sometimes, one moment overshadows an entire 60 minutes of action. And that’s exactly what happened when Richard Sherman lunged to tackle Arizona’s John Brown, twisted his leg underneath his body, and “felt a pop.”

If him mouthing the words themselves on television weren’t enough, the grimace on Sherman’s face said it all. Ruptured Achilles. Out of the season. Next week’s game against the Falcons will be the first he’s missed in seven seasons with Seattle.

Sherman’s injury wasn’t the only one. The injury tent on the visitor’s sideline at University of Phoenix Stadium had many visitors, clad in neon “Action Green.”

C.J. Prosise, Duane Brown, Jarran Reed, Michael Wilhoite, Frank Clark, Shaq Griffin and Kam Chancellor all got banged up in the win, making the Seahawks’ sideline look more like the Tune Squad midway through their game vs. the Monstars.

So why so many injuries? Well, last year Sherman called Thursday Night Football a “poopfest,” saying players need more than four days to recover properly. That argument was doused in kerosene Thursday night, as the injuries piled up.

Last year, Richard Sherman called Thursday night football games "an absolute poopfest," noting how it takes more than four days to fully recover.

“Your body is going to recover how it recovers every other week,’’ Sherman said at the time. “You can’t speed it up any more than you normally would do. You’ve just got to deal with it. One of those things. Part of the job.’’

And then, stone-faced, Sherman stood in front of media members with crutches tucked on either side of him, and said the injury was something he’d been dealing with nearly all season.

“When it goes, it goes,” he said. “You’ve just got to stay positive. That’s all you can do.”

Here’s what national media members are saying about Sherman, playing on short rest and Seattle’s win over Arizona.

“Every team needs a little luck when it comes to playing for a championship. In the NFL, the luckiest team is usually the healthiest as well. Seattle’s ills are another reason NFL teams shouldn’t be asked to play on such a short turnaround for Thursday Night Football. But there’s nothing the franchise can do but move forward with the healthy bodies that remain on the roster.

Pete Carroll’s squad now has 11 days to heal before it faces the Atlanta Falcons on Monday, Nov. 20.”

“The Seahawks left this contest banged up. Offensive tackle Duane Brown, running back C.J. Prosise, defensive tackle Jarran Reed, linebacker Michael Wilhoite, defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson, and defensive end Frank Clark all left this game with injuries. The loss of Brown, who left with an ankle injury, is a particular disappointment — he just joined the team a week ago at the trade deadline and looked to be a key contributor on an offensive line that has struggled all season. Richardson, who collided with Clark in the fourth quarter, has anchored the Seattle defensive line since the team traded for him on September 1, and Reed, Wilhoite, and Clark are all defensive starters. Meanwhile, the loss of Prosise would hurt an already-thin running back corps.”

“Thursday Night Football was already under fire by players, coaches and fans dialed in enough to notice the marked dropoff in on-field product. Losing Richard Sherman for the season in a low-scoring game between the Carson Palmer and David Johnson-less Cardinals and Earl Thomas-less Seahawks will only add fuel to the sound argument that mid-week games simply should not exist.

Sherman had an Achilles injury coming into Thursday’s divisional tilt and, with 5:30 to go in the third quarter, broke on a pass to John Brown. He immediately crumpled to the ground, rolled over and buried his head in the grass. It’s almost as if Sherman was waiting for it to happen. In true Legion of Boom fashion, he limped off the field under his own power (shoving a team medical official out of his way in the process) but television cameras soon caught him mouthing to teammates that the muscle was torn.”

“If Thursday night’s bloodletting isn’t the tipping point for the NFL to reconsider its full-season slate of Thursday night games, it’s hard to imagine the calamities that actually will be. At some point, the league will have to consider whether the $1.86 billion it will receive from NBC, CBS, Twitter and Amazon over the course of the two-year Thursday night TV and streaming package — the deal ends after this season — is worth it both in terms of player safety and the competitive decline that results from all these players getting injured.”

Nick Wright of FOX Sports says the team of all the NFL’s “all-injury” team would be the best in football:

“It’s possible Sherman decided to stay on the sideline in uniform because he realizes that there’s a chance it will be the last time he ever does that. With an $11 million salary and a $13.2 million cap number for 2018 and a 30th birthday coming on March 30, the Seahawks may decide to move on, with or without an effort to get him to take less money.

Sherman was available in trade earlier this year. When no deal happened, both sides tried to put the toothpaste back in the tube. While mostly successful, the issue lingers. And the injury at least keeps a divorce on the table.”

“Before Thursday, he had missed only five snaps this season while playing the fourth-highest percentage (99 percent) of any NFL cornerback, even though he had regularly been on Seattle’s injury report. He has never missed a game in his career, with Thursday marking his 105th consecutive appearance, tied for the third-longest streak among active cornerbacks.”